Page 35 of The Heart of Midnight

Harbough spits on my front porch. “Sure did, about an hour or so ago. It’s amazing how fast things happen when you’ve got a sadistic killer on the loose.”

Yet he’s not moving to arrest me and neither have their weapons drawn. It doesn’t make sense. “So...”

Lange dips his head. “So you’re cleared. No match found. We also confirmed your alibis with your boss and Miss Valentine. Looks like there’s no way you’re our guy.”

Dizziness clouds my head for a moment as I grab the doorframe for support. Are auditory hallucinations a thing when you’re about to get arrested for multiple homicides? None of that can be true. My boss is a drunken moron, but there’s no way hevouched for me when I’ve been calling out sick so many days. And Avery...

“Still wish I could arrest you for being a sick fuck,” Harbough mutters. “Your little girlfriend told us all about your twisted fantasies. Buying a knock-off Muerte mask to role play? Putting cameras in her house to watch her? Chasing her outside her office just to get her in the mood? It’s people like you that make me think we need another flood.”

Oh my god, she’s a genius. The eyewitness doesn’t mean much if we’re admitting to consensual sexual depravity. Her story still checks out, but now I have a near-innocent reason to have been seen in the parking lot of Avery’s work wearing a Muerte mask.

Holy shit, they’ve got nothing. The DNA thing had to have been a glitch because there’s no way it didn’t match, but by the time they figure it out, I’ll be sitting pretty on an island in the middle of the Arabian Sea. It won’t matter.

“We all have our crosses to bear, Detective. I’m sorry that mine freak you out, but I told you I didn’t kill those people. I’m glad to see you’ve finally caught up. Maybe now, you can focus on finding the real Muerte and stop him from terrorizing Saint City.”

It’s hard to keep the glee from my voice and the smile from my face, but I manage it until they’re getting back into their car and driving off. The sun seems a little brighter now, a little warmer. I have half a mind to go break down Avery’s door and fuck her through a wall for being such a brilliant, quick-thinking, amazing woman... but time is of the essence. They’ll double-check that DNA soon, and when they do, I need to be long gone.

It’s time to pack for the sort of vacation I don’t intend to come back from.

Twenty-Two

Avery

Feeling proud of myself, I walk up to the camera in my bedroom and blow Scar a kiss, then lay back on my bed to slowly strip for him and spread my legs wide. I wait there for what feels like forever, the anticipation killing me as he takes his sweet ass time, and after twenty minutes I assume he isn’t coming at all.

Did I not do good?

I try to hide the disappointment on my face as I dress, but even through the camera feed, I know my embarrassed blush can be seen. I thought he’d be happy I helped get him off the hook, I thought he’d finally see that I’m in his corner and run over to ravish me, and instead I find myself staring at the clock for another ten minutes. Something has to be wrong.

Deciding I’m done waiting, I slip on my shoes and stomp my way over to his door, knocking profusely until he finally opens it so we can discuss whatever the hell it is we have to discuss before we can move forward. “Well... did they tell you you’re clear?”

“Yes,” he grunts, grabbing my face and kissing me so fiercely, I nearly fall over. “But now I have to leave. There was a glitch with the DNA so unless they destroyed the whole sample when they tested it, there’s still a chance they’ll figure it out. I have to go.”

“What?” My stomach sinks as I grab onto his shirt and force my way inside his house. “Wait... but you can’t go.” Yes, he can. He has to, and even in my denial I know that. He can’t go to prison, they’ll kill him.

His hands cup my face and root me to the spot. “Avery, you gave me a chance to get away. Are you really asking me not to take it?”

“No, I selfishly gave you a chance with me,” I admit, hands clinging to him tightly. “Take me with you.”

“What?”

“I want to go with you. I don’t care where it is.” We both need each other.

Scar shakes his head slightly but kisses me again, slower this time. “We can’t ever come back. Ever. You understand? You’ll be leaving the country for good.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” I breathe through unshed tears. “Before you ever gave me a piece of the real you, I told you I didn’t care about anyone in this world but you and Janet, and she’ll be just fine without me. I can live without her, I will not live without you. I. Am. Coming.”

“You’re just as insane as I am,” he huffs. “You know who I am.WhatI am.”

“And you know who I am,” I rush out. “I see your heart, Midnight. It belongs to me.”

He leans in, pressing his forehead to mine gently. “Why don’t you hate me?”

“I think I do a little,” I admit in a whisper. “For making me wait, and I’ll be damned if I don’t have my opportunity for you to make it up to me.”

“That’s not what I mean,” he says more firmly, stepping back. “You’ve seen the news. You know what Muerte did, what I did.”

“I know.” And I also know I should be running the complete opposite way, but I know he won’t hurt me. “Do you think... do you need to kill?”

---